Canada Community-Building Fund for municipalities

Funding calculation

The Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing calculates municipal allocation payments using the Canada Community-Building Fund Agreement formula.

Eligible projects

Eligible projects include infrastructure investments (construction, renewal or material enhancement) in the following categories:

• local roads and bridges – roads, bridges and active transportation infrastructure
• highways – highway infrastructure
• short-sea shipping – infrastructure related to the movement of cargo and passengers around the coast and on inland waterways, without directly crossing an ocean
• short-line rail – railway-related infrastructure for carrying passengers or freight
• regional and local airports – airport-related infrastructure (excludes the National Airport System)
• broadband connectivity – infrastructure that provides internet access to residents, businesses and institutions in Canadian communities
• public transit – infrastructure that supports a shared passenger transport system which is available for public use
• drinking water – infrastructure that supports drinking water conservation, collection, treatment and distribution systems
• wastewater – infrastructure that supports wastewater and storm water collection, treatment and management systems
• solid waste – infrastructure that supports solid waste management systems including the collection, diversion and disposal of recyclables, compostable materials and garbage
• community energy systems – infrastructure that generates or increases the efficient usage of energy
• brownfield redevelopment – remediation or decontamination and redevelopment of a brownfield site (land that was previously developed but is not currently in use) within municipal boundaries, where the redevelopment includes:
  • construction of public infrastructure as identified in the context of any other category under the Canada Community-Building Fund
  • construction of municipal use public parks and publicly-owned social housing
• sport Infrastructure – amateur sport infrastructure (excludes facilities like arenas, that would be used as the home of professional sports teams or major junior hockey teams)
• recreational infrastructure – recreational facilities or networks
• cultural infrastructure – infrastructure that supports arts, humanities and heritage
• tourism infrastructure – infrastructure that attracts travellers for recreation, leisure, business or other purposes
• resilience – built and natural infrastructure assets and systems that protect and strengthen the resilience of communities and withstand and sustain service through climate change, natural disasters and extreme weather events
• capacity building – investments related to strengthening the ability of municipalities to develop long-term planning practices (like capital investment plans, integrated community sustainability plans, integrated regional plans, housing needs assessments and asset management plans)
• fire halls – fire hall and fire station infrastructure

Investments in health infrastructure (hospitals, convalescent and senior centres) are not eligible.

Municipalities can pool, bank and borrow against their Canada Community-Building Fund allocation for eligible projects.

Accessing the funding

Municipalities don’t apply for the Canada Community-Building Fund. The Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing calculates the allocation payments annually and distributes the funding to each municipality in 2 transfer payments. Municipalities need to meet reporting requirements and complete an annual program audit to receive the transfer payments.

Reporting requirements

Municipalities need to submit reporting each year, including a pre-construction report, expenditure report and 5-year capital investment plan. Municipalities use the Municipal Reporting System to submit the reporting.